Settling Debts

Catsclaw

Hi Please help, I have approx. £10k of debt unsecured, mainly credit cards. I am in a position to approach the lenders with an offer to settle these debts as I am desperate to improve my poor credit score as I wish to apply for a mortgage in 18 months time. So if my creditors accept my offer, can I ask them to change my status as Default to Settled on my file and if so how quickly will that improve my score? Also what do you think as a percentage is a sensible offer to settle debts? Thanks

19lottie82

hi, if you have a load of defaults on your account, unless they are about to drop off, then there is pretty much no way you will be able to get a mortgage in 18 months, even if they were to be "settled" in the near future.

Tixy

Your creditors are very unlikely to agree to remove the defaults even if you paid in full.
If you are planning to make reduced full & final settlement offers then they will likely not only not remove the default but also probably show on your credit file that the defaults were partially satisfied.

How recent are the defaults? how many of them will remain visible in 18months time?